Architect? what is that?

Architecture is a fluid profession that needs to flow and adapt with life's course. When we are in academics, there is always a competitive side that most of us don't like but which is needed to help each other excel. Anger, frustration, criticism, tidbits, it is all in there, but again, it shows that architecture and life have the same course, they each have challenges as much as characteristics that are reflected by our behaviors. What if real architecture was the same, what if we competed with each other to excel in how to build better communities. It is clear that there is a big difference between how and what we are taught as much as how and what we build when we go out in the world. Today's architects withhold themselves from activism through architecture because they are afraid, and yet when we are in schools, we are always talking about affordable housing and community but often forget those values once we step out of this bubble. The truth in my opinion is that we all might fall victim of that at some point in our career. We might have to design things that go against everything or some of the things we believe in. Maybe we are working in a firm that pay us enough money to take care of that mortgage, travel, and save enough to retire. And again we are humans and can you blame us for wanting more than we need, wanting more than we have in a world where the poor isn't human and the one who can help remain silent. 

I reminded myself again this week that I am human not perfect. I am still a beginner in this discipline no matter how much I have learned, but i need to make sure that whatever I am going to build need to be safe, healthy and sustainable, so that is where I need to push and that is where I need to fail time and time again because it is a journey of my own to learn how to absorb everything I am given whether it is criticism or advice, should always take it as an investment because it can be useful as we grow. 

It is always important for architects to be better listener, and it has come up a lot in the debate this week, and for me personally, listening has nothing to do with being able to hear but it has everything to do with putting our ego and pride aside and asking how we can help without stuttering a word. At the end that is what reflect an architect, his drawings and his service to others. It is all about understanding that our imaginations have no limits but we need to be able to control what we can do, know when to yeld, and when to keep pushing. Those things take much more time to learn and that is where we never put the extra effort because we know so much and so little at the same time. 

Another thing that I strongly reflected upon during the debate is that there are 3 common words that are always repeated, not just in words but in the ways we answered the questions that were asked. However, we often get bored of hearing these words because our weaknesses encompass our strength. Togetherness, love, and community, how many time have we heard these words, a lot indeed, and at the end we get bored to hear them in architecture but it is important for me as an architect to constantly hear these words because they have the power to remind me of who I am, not who the world want me to be, and help me reflect on my purpose not what other think I should do. It is beautiful to be in a class with different students and disagreeing with each other is the way to build each other up but again we remember that those three words always bring us back together no matter how hard the course of the semester goes and our disappointments through the process. Love, togetherness, and community, well enough said....

The truth is that there is always a misunderstanding about the kind of architecture we want to build and bringing "empathy" on the discussion doesn't make an architect excellent or great, or weak, no!  On the opposite, we do know that the world is a cruel place indeed and we should be tough in the decisions we make at times. However, an architect's voice is heard through what he shapes and how he shapes it. I am still wondering what an excellent architect is, not a perfect architect but an architect who is excellent in listening and making. I yet have to meet one but I am sure there will be many forward.